I’ve certainly waited rather patiently for my
turn and I’m pleased to present my entry at last!
My name is Hassan Khan, I’m an Intern for
Thomas Pocklington Trust, working with Islington Advisory Group, South-East
London Vision and East London Vision respectively.
One of my duties is to manage and maintain
social media channels. I always appreciate feedback from our followers, fans
and readers. Your opinions are vital and just to reiterate, if you would like
to feature something in this blog, on Facebook or Twitter, we would love to
hear from you, please don’t be shy! Although this blog points out what the
ELVis team have been up to, we are just as interested in knowing what you’ve
been up to as well!
East London Vision, in conjunction with
Metro Blind Sport, Walthamstow Borough Bowling Club and Motivate East, organised
the first Vision Impaired bowls taster session
As someone who is an enthusiastic sports
person, it was a pleasure to be able to help run the first ever VI Bowls taster
session in East London and here is a short report.
On a glorious Thursday afternoon, the sun most definitely played a
big part in ensuring our first ever Bowls session in East London, was a
success!
The obsession with the weather means, we often start a conversation
with the weather and as our members were introduced to the bowling club staff,
we are pleased to report, they certainly maintained the tradition. Although
perhaps as a Cricketer who spends his life praying for the sun, it is probably
me who is a little obsessed! :)
After a quick introduction to VI bowls, rules and the equipment. We
had a tour of the six Bowling Rinks and only then did the members have the
opportunity of throwing a Jack and the wood. This would stand them in good
stead for a competitive game later on in the afternoon. I do sincerely hope, no
one had the camera out, when yours truly had their first ever go at throwing a
wood, let’s just say, it won’t live long in the memory! :(
Visually Impaired Bowls England was founded in 1975 and is made up
of more than 50 clubs and has around 600 members. Globally, there are 5,000
blind and partially sighted members of the International Association, which
makes lawn bowls the largest outdoor activity for the blind in the world.
Bowls is not only a great game to take part in socially; it also
helps improve confidence and general fitness of players.
Although the snacks probably didn’t help our general fitness,
everyone involved had their competitive juices flowing as we wrapped up the
day by playing a couple of games. When the final scores came in, one or two
were left perplexed, as both teams drew 3 all. Although, VI Bowls was the big
winner on the day!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank, Ian Francis (Sports Development Officer) Metro Blind
Sport, Both of the VI bowling champions from Metro Blind Sport, Motivate East,
our members for attending and last but most definitely not least, Walthamstow
Borough Bowling Club, your continued support and effort is much appreciated.
I
also had the pleasure of attending a
coffee morning at Wanstead Library, as part of Make a Noise in Libraries
fortnight. It was rather encouraging to learn that libraries in East London
want to do more for Vision Impaired People and I’m happy to report I presented
some ideas of what events and activities the libraries could organise. I also
discovered as well as ‘Books on Wheels’ people can now download talking books
on their smart phones, tablets and iPads by downloading the Overdrive App.
Incidentally, I should add, I’m now a proud owner of a Library card.
The ELVis team is always incredibly busy, so here
is what the rest of the crew have been up to:
- Coordinated National Eye Health Week activities, and possibilities of including a question on eye tests in routine Health Checks, with Hackney Public Health
- Co-Chaired Newham Vision Strategy Group meeting - welcomed new stakeholders, said goodbye to ‘old’ stakeholders and continued to drive the Action Plan forward… this quarter focussing on Children’s pathway and services.
- Hosted a Service User Consultation in Tower Hamlets, in association with Beyond Barriers - Around 25 service users (from BB and Deafblind UK), and 15 staff - so a good pulling together from the Vision Strategy Group. Discussion groups looked at what was working, what was missing, and key priorities for change in 4 areas: Health & Prevention, Social Services, Access and Inclusion. The event received positive feedback… and we await the Findings Report.
- Attended meal at the Harvester as part of our support to ActivEyes Redbridge
- Various preparation in advance of delivering Vision Impairment Awareness Training
- Attended meeting in Hackney to provide feedback and support for the pan disability training they wish to develop.
Have a
wonderful week
Hassan
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